


Sleigh Gels

by Silverilly



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: 70s aperture, Bittersweet, Christmas, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Older Characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 08:30:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9115066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverilly/pseuds/Silverilly
Summary: A giant pile of snow and a lot of propulsion gel. It’s a Cave Johnson idea for sure–and Caroline is not getting on that sled.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stillalivedoingscience](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stillalivedoingscience/gifts).



> I wrote this for the 2016 Portal Secret Santa event on Tumblr, where stillalivedoingscience requested Caveline and cute Christmassy things. Excuse the title, please; the wordplay was too cute to pass up, even though this story is not about a sleigh.

Caroline could not remember the last time she had seen sunlight. Work these days was busier than ever; tests had to be supervised with extra care, employee retention was dropping constantly, and the paperwork from ever-increasing lawsuits threatened to overwhelm her every day. There was no sense in leaving her underground bunker, no point in stepping outside the facility into a world that seemed too still, too peaceful. The more time she spent outside, the more anxious she became over work undone—so she didn’t leave Aperture very often anymore.

Given these facts, she shouldn’t have been looking at a gigantic snow hill.

Of course, this was Aperture, and Aperture apparently included a snow hill now. To make things even more interesting, poured across the snow was a slick, painfully-orange gel, its tendrils seeping into the white fluff. She knew instantly its purpose, of course—propulsion gel would give intense speed to the cheery sled currently perched at the top of the mound. It occurred to Caroline that the snow was, in itself, an interesting variable; how would such a soft substance react with the gel? Unfortunately, it looked like she was not going to be able to oversee that test. No, if Cave Johnson had his way, she would be a test subject herself—and given her company’s reputation with test subjects, the thought was not exactly appealing.

“More artificially-generated snow than any ski hill in Vermont! It’s perfect, eh, kid?”

It seemed, to her, to be a perfect waste of money—and money was in short supply these days. Still, it was hard not to catch Cave Johnson’s enthusiasm, even if he was foolishly clinging to the golden days of years past. When Cave Johnson spoke to you, you believed every word he had to offer. It was no wonder he could convince himself that terrible ideas were brilliant ones; he even managed to convince her of it at times.

All that is to say, of course, that there was no way in hell she was getting on that sled.

“Mister Johnson, aren’t we a little old for tobogganing?” she tried weakly.

“Old?” Cave scoffed. “Little sled’s not gonna do anything to Cave Johnson. And you…” He nudged his finger under her chin, raising it so that her gaze met his. “Well, you can’t be a day over 25, now, can you?”

“Mister Johnson!” She batted his hand away, ducking her head to hide the flush blooming in her cheeks. She certainly was _not_ 25 anymore, but he always seemed to know how to make her feel like she might be.

The man chuckled. “Come on, Caroline. Where’s your Christmas spirit?”

“Non-denominational holiday spirit, sir,” she corrected with a smile. Secularism was woven into Aperture’s code of conduct—although the code of conduct was largely ignored at all times, as evidenced by the fact that Cave Johnson had just pulled her flush against his body.

“Whatever,” he said, his hands roaming across her back before settling with a squeeze against her behind. She was glad they had booked a private hour in this sphere, with no suspicious scientists to bother them. “Point is, you and me are going sledding.”

Caroline did her best to push aside the electricity that had connected them through his touch, but even decades later, she still felt it. “And when we sail directly into a wall at 100 miles an hour, sir?” Her sardonicism kept peeking through her veneer of sweetness these days. Fortunately, she’d been working here for so long that her boss seemed to enjoy the cynical edge. “The last time I checked, brain damage was for the bums.”

“Don’t be such a scaredy-cat. We can do a little testing of our own. Besides—I’ll be right on the sled with you. I’ll keep you safe.”

The promise was kind, even sincere. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that if they did crash, she would now be crushed under the weight of her boss’s sturdy body.

“Maybe you should drop on some repulsion gel at the bottom,” Caroline said drily. “Then we could go 50 feet in the air— _no!_ ” His expression had brightened at her sarcastic idea, and she could _not_ allow him to think she was being serious. “We are  _not_ doing that!”

As could be expected, he dropped into a puppylike pout. His wide eyes, Caroline noticed, were framed with deep lines. “Then let’s go, princess. Just the propulsion gel. You know you wanna know about the snow—I can smell it on you.”

He was right—she was curious. “We have test subjects for that, sir.” And yet… it did look fun. She hadn’t been on a sled in years.

“One little ride.” He still held her close—too close. His scent, wrapped up in the sterility and gunpowder of Aperture, made it hard to think of anything reasonable. “It’ll be fine.”

“Mister Johnson…” She pulled away, forcing herself to think straight—but as she did, her gaze locked onto his, and all her thoughts scattered.

Sometimes, she thought there might be love in that gaze.

“Yes, sir.” With a sigh, she stepped onto the sled, being careful as she sat to ensure that it wasn’t going to move before she was ready. She could feel her heart in her throat as she realized just how steep the Aperture-induced snow mound really was—but her panic stilled as his warm arms and legs wrapped around her.

“That’s my girl,” he said, nuzzling into her neck. “Now let’s go.”

Taking a deep breath, she pushed against the ground, tipping the sled over the edge of the hill, sending her hurtling alongside him into the terrifying and lethal and exhilarating future.

 


End file.
